Family
by wisdom-walks-alone
Summary: Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth were just trying to find shelter in NYC, but they were surprised by a bat-wielding flurry of black hair and fleece pajama pants. Now their trio is a foursome, with another member joining their family of demigod runaways. What do the Fates have in store for these four demigods? Rated K plus because of possible swearing.
1. Thalia

The streets of Manhattan were bustling as usual, and Thalia was beginning to feel claustrophobic. It was also making it considerably harder to find somewhere for her, Luke, and Annabeth to crash for the next couple nights. You would think it would be easy, what with all the different areas and such. Surely there would be a good amount of alleys they could hide out in. But, no, there really weren't that many places for them to stay. Most buildings in Manhattan were close-knit, so the alleys in between made a pretty tight squeeze. And the ones that were big enough, well, a lot of them were filled with garbage.

Finally, they found a somewhat suitable alley and decided to set up camp. Annabeth unpacked some food and supplies, Luke tried moving some things around to make more room, and Thalia started clearing a few things out of the alley. She was about to grab a cardboard box to toss into a dumpster when it sneezed. Confused, she took a step back.

"Guys?" she called. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Luke asked. Annabeth tilted her head as if to ask the same question, a quizzical look on her face.

Thalia shrugged. "Nevermind, I guess." She was about to grab the box again when a boy jumped out welding some metal object Thalia would later identify as an aluminum baseball bat. Thankful for her quick reflexes, Thalia dodged and grabbed the bat mid swing, throwing it across the alley before he could grab it back.

The boy backed up against the wall, his eyes narrowed and his stance defensive. Annabeth and Luke came over to see what was going on.

"Stay away from me, monsters," the boy growled. He was wearing a ratty blue shirt and beat up fleece pajama pants. On his feet were a pair of worn out sneakers. He looked about Annabeth's age, with black hair that seemed like it hadn't been brushed for days. His face, and whole body for that matter, was dirty and littered with scars, some fresher than others. His green eyes made his glare look more intense.

Thalia crouched down to be eye level with him. "Hey kid, we're not gonna hurt you," she told him. "We're just like you. We fight monsters too," she added, remembering what Luke had said to Annabeth.

"Really?" he asked skeptically, the slightest bit of hopefulness hiding in his tone.

"Yeah. I'm Thalia, and this is Luke and Annabeth." She gestured to them respectively.

"I'm Percy," the boy said. Thalia smiled.

"Nice to meet ya Percy. Where's your family?"

Percy looked down. "My mom's dead. Smelly Gabe killed her."

Thalia frowned. She knew what it was like to have someone you loved taken away from you. "I'm sorry to hear that, Percy. Do you wanna join us in our monster fighting?"

Percy smiled a little, nodding his head. Thalia could tell he was trying to hide his excitement.

Luke crouched down next to Thalia. "Hey Bud," he said. "We're going to be your family now, just you and us, okay?"

Percy smiled wider. "Okay."

"Hey Annie," Thalia said. "Come say hi."

Annabeth stood next to Thalia. "Don't call me 'Annie,'" she huffed. She turned to Percy, giving him a once-over. "Hi."

"Hi," he said back.

"Well," Luke cut in, "I'm going to go on a supply run. Hey Percy, you want to come with me?"

Percy let the last of his guard down and smiled, jumping up and down. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!"

"C'mon then." Luke held his hand out and Percy grabbed it. The two started walking out of the alley, leaving Thalia alone with Annabeth.

"Why does he have to come with us?" she asked. "I like it when it's just you, me, and Luke."

"Don't worry, Annabeth," Thalia assured her. "It'll be the same as it's always been, we just have one more person to join the fun now. Plus, don't you think it's wise to have an extra person helping us out?"

"I guess so," Annabeth answered, still frowning slightly. "But more of us will attract more monsters."

"We can't just leave him by himself, Anne."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Thalia gave her a hug and they finished setting up, then sat against the wall together until Percy and Luke came back.

* * *

 **Hello everyone! I'm sorry that ending is really rushed because I was getting lazy. This is my first fanfic on here. (It's far from the first I've ever written, though. I have a ton in my Google Drive and some up on my Wattpad.) I appreciate anyone who will read. Thanks for reading this far!**


	2. Luke

Percy was a cute kid, he really was, but there was just no way to get him to _shut up._ Seriously, the kid had no filter. But Luke guessed it was a good thing he hadn't lost all his cheerfulness after being on his own on the streets of New York City for who-knows-how-long. So he also guessed he should just put up with it.

They walked down 34th street, hand in hand, to get some more supplies since they now had one more person tagging along. [I actually don't know if there's a place for that there but we can pretend.] Percy babbled about nonsense from blue food to what he got for his birthday last year. Luke couldn't help but smile at how bubbly and happy he could be when he wasn't alone and afraid for his life. It made it feel like he had a little brother.

Luke already had two sister figures, but now he had a little _brother_. He'd always wanted a little brother. He loved Thalia and Annabeth like sisters, but there was something different about having a brother, as far as Luke could imagine at least. The way they could wrestle with one another, the way he could teach him things about being a teenage boy, the way he could act around him. It all just seemed like a such a foreign yet appealing concept to Luke.

"Are you and Thalia dating?"

The question caught Luke off guard, and he almost stumbled and fell on his face. "Wuh, what?" He stammered, probably sounding really stupid.

Percy laughed at him. "You should see your face! It's all red and it looks like this!" He proceeded to make a flustered, dumbstruck expression, and from what Luke could tell, it was a pretty accurate representation of his face.

"Ha ha, very funny." He rolled his eyes, but a dopey smile was on his face anyway. "And no, Thalia and I are not dating. Besides, she's two years younger than me. Speaking of age," he added, a little desperate to change the subject, "how old are you, Percy?"

"Six," Percy answered, pulling his hand away from Luke's in order to hold up the corresponding amount of fingers.

"You're the same age as Annabeth," Luke realized.

"That's cool," Percy said before continuing to talk about nothing in particular. Luke shook his head. This kid was seriously ADHD.

They arrived back at the alley with a few bags and full pockets. They had extra bottles of water, some more food, and some new clothes for Percy. Luke didn't like to steal because it reminded him of who his dad was, but being on the run, you had to do what you had to to survive.

Thalia was sitting up against the wall, with Annabeth sleeping on her right shoulder. "Hey you two," she said when she realized they had arrived.

Annabeth stirred and rubbed her eyes. "Are they back?" she asked groggily.

"And better than ever," Luke said referring to Percy as he ruffled Annabeth's hair a bit. Percy did look much better. They'd cleaned him up in a bathroom and changed his clothes, so now he didn't look like too much of a street rat anymore, or smell like it either. Air fresheners really were a godsend sometimes.

"Hey Annabeth," Thalia started, "why don't you hang out with Percy for a little while, okay?"

"Yeah," Luke added, a little glad to get some alone time with Thalia for awhile, thinking that this must be what it's like to be parents, "play with each other. Get to know one another."

"Do I have to?" Annabeth complained.

"I'm not going to bite you or anything," Percy butted in, looking a bit miffed.

Annabeth huffed. "Okay, fine. But only for a little while."

Thalia and Luke laughed as they walked to the corner of the alley, leaving Annabeth and Percy to get to know each other, both of them hoping Annabeth didn't hurt him too much. They sat in the corner, next to each other with their knees drawn to their chests like they always used to do, before they found Annabeth. It was nice.

"I remember when it was just you and me," Luke said, "on the run with nowhere-in-particular as our destination, sleeping in alleys and caves under the stars and in the light of streetlamps."

"Don't go getting all sentimental on me now," Thalia teased. "But yeah, I admit it was pretty nice." She drew some imaginary circles on the ground and leaned her head on Luke's shoulder, like how she did when she was going to fall asleep on him back in the times of just the two of them.

"I liked it when was just us," Luke mused, laying his head on top of hers.

"You sound like Annabeth." He felt Thalia smile a little against his shoulder. "Do you really want your behavior compared to that of a six year old girl?"

Luke chuckled. "I dunno, this six year old girl is pretty smart so that doesn't seem so bad."

"Shut _up_." Thalia punched him lightly in the stomach. They both laughed. Luke just wished this moment could last forever. But of course, it didn't, because a moment can't last forever, instead being imbedded in one's brain as a memory, and a memory can last forever.

* * *

 **So here's some Thaluke for all you guys! I'm still in that lazy writer phase so bear with me. Thanks for reading!**


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